


Depth Perception

by spinsters_grave



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A LOT of blood and violence, Alien Culture, Disillusionment, Foul Language, Galra OC who is very important to the plot, I Made A Religion, I'm really sorry, PowerPoint Presentations (I am a monster!!!), You've been warned, a /lot/ of blood, a lot happens in chapter five, doubtable science, i don't know how to tag this!!!, loss of depth perception, misgendering in chapter five, smawgs (no not smawgs), suicide in chapter five, two instances of brainwashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-12 23:21:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9095167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinsters_grave/pseuds/spinsters_grave
Summary: Someone loses an eye.Someone is disillusioned. The actions of strangers galaxies away can change the fate of the universe.





	1. Chapter 1

“Ah.”

 

“ _Ahh.”_

 

“Fuck- fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Fuck. F- Fuck.”

 

“I don’t- fuck.”

 

“There’s- there’s a lot of blood. Hah.”

 

The paladin gulped. “I didn’t- didn’t- think there was so much bl- bluh- _blood_ …”

 

“Hah.”

 

“Someone, please- I don’t- I can’t-”

 

***

 

 _Everyone_ heard Keith scream over the comms, and so instantly everyone was set on edge- Keith didn’t scream. Ever.

 

“Keith? Keith, where are you?” Shiro asked, the first one to regain composure. All they heard in response was Keith gasping, literally gasping, in fear and pain.

 

“ _Shit,_ ” Shiro cursed, and everyone gasped- just like Keith never screamed, Shiro never cursed. “ _Shit,_ ” Shiro said again. “Allura, tell us where he is.”

 

Allura stuttered over the comms. “I don’t- okay. Okay. He’s several corridors away from you guys, and this place is a quiznak maze- Lance, go left. You’re closest.”

 

They all heard the sound of Keith saying ‘fuck’ over and over, letting it escalate. It kind of set the mood, in a very perverse way- Fuck was right. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

 

Lance _sprinted-_ sure, they had a rivalry, but this was an _emergency_ and he’d be _damned_ if he let a teammate suffer. “Keith? I’m headed your way,” he said into the comms, his stomach clenching. “Can you hear me?”

 

“I don’t- fuck,” Keith whispered.

 

“I’m on my way,” Lance panted. Sprinting was hard, okay? But he pushed himself for the sake of the universe. For the sake of his teammate. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

 

“Can you tell me what happened?” Shiro asked with so much urgency.

 

“There’s- there’s a lot of blood.” Keith gasped a little at the end again. Lance winced- it sounded like he was in a _lot_ of pain.

 

“Lance, you’re getting closer,” Allura said, seemingly in control but really cracking like the rest of them.

 

“Good,” Lance growled into the mic. “Keith, you hear that?”

 

Keith gulped, and stuttered, “I didn’t- didn’t- didn’t think there was so much bl- bluh- _blood…”_

 

Lance could tell the sentence wasn’t finished, and he listened closely for Keith to finish, but all he heard was his own bated breath and guns in the distance, covering for him.

 

Keith gasped again, still in pain and still afraid.

 

“There!” Allura yelled. “The door on your left- he’s right behind that, Lance. Hurry!”

 

Lance looked around for a way to open the door, then thought _fuck it_ \- the mantra for this mission- and shot the door open. “Keith?”

 

Keith’s back was to him, and he was clutching his face. No lying- there was a _lot_ of blood.

 

“Keith?” Lance asked again, woefully ignorant of the Galra soldier in the corner, who was holding his gun and shaking. “Oh, god. There’s a lot of blood.”

 

Keith shuddered and slowly sank to his knees, too exhausted to support himself.

 

Lance laid a hand on Keith’s shoulder and gently spun him around. “Oh, god- Someone, please- I don’t- I can’t-” Lance had to put his hand over his mouth to avoid throwing up.

 

Maybe it wasn’t actually his eye that got hit- maybe just his eyebrows. That didn’t account for the shards of helmet glass sticking out of Keith’s eye, though- that didn’t account for the _matter_ that splattered Keith’s face and armor- oh, god.

 

Oh, god, oh god oh god oh god.

 

Lance swallowed hard and said into the comms, “Shiro, Allura, we need to evacuate Keith out of here _right now_ and get him into a pod. Right. Now. I- Oh, god. Fuck.”

 

Lance stood there staring at Keith’s mutilated eye for who knows how long- he couldn’t tear his gaze away from it. Keith seemed to be in shock- he was unresponsive, but his other eye was open. And blinking. Winking? And Lance could hear his breathing, short and uneven.

 

His heart pounded in his ears- no, those were footsteps- Shiro burst into the room, and quickly took in the situation. He went pale and had to clamp his (human) hand over his mouth, like Lance did.

 

“Shit,” Shiro whispered. “Okay. You’re right, Lance, we need to get him the _fuck_ out of here- Allura, we can meet you in Section 6-D, right?”

 

Lance heard Allura acknowledge, and helped Shiro carry Keith to the section- what- 6-D, his arms slung around their shoulders. Lance was forcefully reminded of when he had to get Shiro from the Garrison- it had happened almost exactly like this. But not quite.

 

Lance made the trip in a daze. The castle ship sent a tiny carrier to pick them up- Lance and Shiro threw Keith in there, then ran to their Lions. It seemed to be the right thing to do- Shiro picked up the Red Lion and Lance picked up the tiny carrier with Keith bleeding out in it, making sure to keep it as balanced as possible. Didn’t need Keith to roll around the carrier, killing himself more.

 

Coran met them at the hangars. “Where is he?” he demanded of Shiro, who gestured to the carrier. Coran ran to get Keith, and emerged with him slung over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. “Help me get him to a pod,” Coran grunted.

 

Lance and Shiro rushed Coran to the medical bay, and quickly set up a pod. It seemed like they worked much faster together- like their hands knew a life was on the line.

 

Lance still felt his stomach clench and knot as Coran stripped Keith of his armor and gently stood Keith up in the pod. The three of them watched the pod hiss close and Keith’s blood gently evaporate into the liquid.

 

Lance and Shiro gagged when Keith’s eye was revealed- a mess of ruined, burned flesh and eye matter, and a gaping hole that they couldn’t see into- or chose not to. Lance thought he could see nerve endings, and tiny shards of glittering helmet glass embedded in Keith’s face and delicate muscle. Oh, yeah- exposed muscle. This was _not_ going to heal cleanly. He just couldn’t look away.

 

Shiro gasped and struggled for composure, but then he would glance up at Keith’s face again and lose it. Coran was the calmest out of all of them, but then again, he was busy with the task of cleaning Keith’s armour of eye and flesh. Oh, fuck- Lance felt terrible.

 

Lance felt the castle ship begin to move again, and Hunk and Pidge burst into the med bay. Hunk burst right back out when he saw the ruins of Keith’s face, and Lance could hear him throw up out of sight. The blood ran out of Pidge’s face, and Lance thought he could see tears start to form in their eyes.

 

Shiro struggled for composure, then gained it and herded his paladins out of the medbay. Lance went back for Coran, still scrubbing away at Keith’s armour.

 

Lance gently raised Coran’s wrist, probably sore from scrubbing the same spot over and over and over again. “We’ll stick that in the laundry,” he whispered. Coran looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes- Lance didn’t know that Alteans could cry. Well, Allura cried when she had to kill her father’s corrupted A.I., but- Lance tossed that train of thought off with a shake of his shoulders.

 

Coran unsteadily stood up. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to him,” he rasped, for once his voice serious sounding instead of goofy.

 

Lance nodded slowly, tilting his head down and walking with Coran back to the bridge. “I know,” he whispered. “I want him to be safe, too, but standing in front of his pod isn’t going to help anything.”

 

Coran sighed and smoothed back his hair. “Yeah,” he said. “Let’s go back to the others now.”

 

***

 

Traxen didn’t think- he just reacted. The Red Paladin just came at him with a sword, so Traxen just shot him blindly.

 

He was too young for this- only barely twenty cycles. Only barely graduated from the Academy. Only barely got his first assignment, on the _Vitruvius,_ only barely able to perform guard duty.

 

Traxen didn’t know why he had to guard a bank of computer... like... things, or why he was alone, or why a paladin of Voltron was so interested in what he was guarding. Oh, Divinity, help him. God, the paladins said. Oh, god, help him.

 

Then the blue one and the black one got the red one out of there. Traxen barely heard what they were saying, the universal translator on the fritz and his own panic engulfing him in waves.

 

Oh, Divinity- _god_ \- what if he had _killed_ him? Sure, he was a paladin and thus The Enemy, but- a _life?_ Somehow, it was much worse thinking about a stranger's life gone than the life he had to take to graduate from the Academy. Maybe because the other cadet was an asshole.

 

Traxen closed his eyes, but they shot open again when the image of glass shards and red blood danced across the front of his mind.

 

Commander Ghoar clapped him on the shoulder. “Good work, soldier,” he grunted through his tusks. “You injured a paladin of Voltron- this calls for a promotion.”

 

Traxen took a deep breath to calm his nerves. “Yes, sir,” he barked. “Thank you, sir!”

 

Ghoar clapped him on the shoulder again and turned to face the line of soldiers. “Attention!” he announced. “Foot soldier Traxen is being promoted to Fourth Officer Traxen, and you slimy plemunkets will do good to follow his lead! Victory or death- Vrepit sa!”

 

“Vrepit sa!” The thunk of a fist hitting breastplates resonated down the line, Traxen going through the motions with the rest of them.

  
Oh, god, he thought. That other word the red one said- Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

“Just a few more ticks,” Allura said. “You all can be so impatient- I remember having to control you all when Lance was in the pod, just like this.” Shiro wrapped an arm around her, and she leaned into his side and sighed.

 

Shiro watched Keith, waiting to see something appear in his eye socket.  _ C’mon, _ he thought,  _ there’s only a few more seconds. Where’s the eye? _

 

The pod hissed open, and Keith stumbled out. He didn’t keel over like Allura or Lance did- his one eye snapped open and he caught himself before he planted face-first. 

 

Shiro dropped Allura (rude) to support Keith. “Hey, buddy,” he said like he was speaking to a child. “How we doing?”

 

Keith looked at Shiro in confusion, then brought a hand up to cup his face, the side that was missing an eye. “What…” he started. “I don’t understand.”

 

Shiro glanced at the others, who shifted nervously on their feet and didn’t look directly at Keith. “You lost an eye,” he said. Keith would appreciate bluntness more than mollycoddling.

 

Keith blinked- winked?- and turned his gaze to the floor, poking at his face. “Okay. You got a mirror?” He stepped out of Shiro’s support and walked over to Lance, his gait steady. “Gimme,” he commanded.

 

Lance looked up at Keith from where he was sitting on the floor, but quickly looked away. “I don’t know what you mean.”

 

Keith held out a hand. “I know that there’s a pocket mirror in your top left pocket in that jacket, because you can’t go anywhere without making sure your hair is perfect. So, give it to me.”

 

Lance did  _ not _ know what to say to that, and Shiro had to hold in a crazy laugh. He had the feeling no one would appreciate a sense of humor at the moment.

 

Lance wordlessly handed Keith a small blue disk, which Keith snapped open and brought to his face. He contemplated his eye for a minute, then snapped the mirror closed and handed it back to Lance with a ‘thank you’. 

 

“I’ll need an eye-patch from now on,” he decided. “Coran? Do you have anything?”

 

Okay, now Shiro needed to step in. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said, bringing his hands up in a halting manner. “What do you think you’re going to do? This is a _ very bad injury. _ You’re not going to just, I don’t know, resume training and fighting right away. I-”

 

“Why not?” Keith interrupted. “It doesn’t hurt. All I need is an eyepatch, and I’ll be good to go.”

 

Shiro blinked. He had two eyes- something he’ll never take for granted again- so he could do that. “You lost an  _ eye, _ ” he enunciated.

 

“And  _ you _ lost an  _ arm _ ,” Keith sassed. Oh, he did  _ not _ just go there. “I don’t see  _ you _ not fighting and getting it checked every so often.”

 

Shiro took a small step back and put his (human) hand over his heart, speechless.

 

Keith took that to mean he won the argument. (He did. The asshole.) He looked at Coran, somehow heedless of the effect the gaping hole in his face had on everyone else.

 

Why wasn’t he bothered about this? What the hell happened to him?

 

***

 

Fourth Officer Traxen. He liked the sound of that. Better than Foot Soldier Traxen, that’s for sure. 

 

He finished writing his mission report on his attack with the red paladin. He reported that the paladin had a certain interest in the computer bank- or else they wouldn’t have been in the room Traxen was guarding- and Traxen had effectively shut down the paladin by shooting them in the eye. Current injuries of the enemy seem to be severe, and it is not confirmed if they are alive or not.

 

Traxen submitted the file with a small click, and privately thought that the new filing system was the best thing to happen to the Galra Empire, glorious may it be. All hail Emperor Zarkon the Great. (Yadda, yadda, yadda.) Traxen went to close the mission report, but hesitated- it just didn’t seem  _ right. _ Why was the paladin so interested in a bunch of computers? What was on them?

 

Traxen looked around at his empty chambers. He only had one roommate- a benefit for being promoted- and they were out on the town. Or the mess hall, because they were on a warship, drifting through deep space and the edges of the Galra Empire (glorious may it be, all hail Emperor Zarkon the Great).

 

Traxen took a deep breath, and quickly typed in a request for a file from Computer Resource Room 094-Ksh-87F. 

 

_ Reason,  _ it asked.

 

_ Basic curiosity, _ Traxen typed, then deleted quickly.  _ Routine inspection for malware. _ That sounded good.

 

He muttered a small charm under his breath, for luck, then sent the request to headquarters. With all process accounted for, and the speed of the Divinity Themselves, Traxen should get the file in ten standard twenty-hour days. He set his calendar for fifteen days to give himself a limit- if he didn’t get the file or a refusal by then, he should pack his bags and get ready for life as a rogue Galra ex-military. Fun.

 

***

 

The best thing about Keith losing an eye was the loss of his depth perception. 

 

Example One: The wall. Coran led Keith out into the hallway to show him where the eye patches were. Keith just walked straight into the wall- okay, the doorframe, but still. Keith, Mister Hand-Eye Coordination himself, walked straight into the wall.

 

Keith bumped back, hand jumping to his nose, and glared at the wall like it personally offended him. He muttered an inaudible curse in a language that didn’t sound like English, then took a deliberate step to the side and walked forward, trailing after Coran and muttering curses to himself. 

 

Lance couldn’t help himself from laughing a little, which apparently set something off in Shiro, which in turn made Pidge and Hunk laugh just because everyone else was laughing- soon enough, the pod room was filled with the sound of laughter.

 

Example Two: A desk. There were plenty scattered around the castle, one just had to look for the switches to pull them out of the wall. Lance found one early on, but decided that it wasn’t useful and put it back. Now, he thought, pranking could occur.

 

He hired Pidge to help him look for the desk and keep an eye out of Keith, if he happened to walk by. Lance found the switch and quickly pulled the desk free, pushing it over to the door so that some unsuspecting soul with no depth perception could walk in and hit it with their body, maybe fall over. Lance had great expectations. 

 

Lance waited. And waited. Pidge left, eventually, but set up a camera so they could watch from their bedroom if Keith ever showed up. And so Lance waited some more.

 

Keith finally walked by, his bayard out and his shirt sticking to his skin. (My, oh, my.) 

 

Go time. Lance pulled the desk over to the door, waiting for the right moment. The desk would blend right in with the wall, seeing as they were both white with blue glowing highlights. Lance had trouble finding it himself, and he had perfect twenty-twenty vision, not a totally fucked-up eyesight like Keith had.

 

Lance rolled the desk out into the middle of the hallway, grateful that it didn’t make a sound. Keith was about two steps away from it, and- he knocked his hip into it (hard) and cursed. Loudly. After losing his balance and having to catch himself before he face-planted on the hard surface of the desk.

 

“Fuck!”

 

Lance burst into laughter.

 

“What the fuck, Lance! Is this really what you- my partial  _ blindness _ is not something for you to play around with!” Keith yelled. 

 

Lance sobered up, but still felt light on the inside. “Sorry,” he muttered, putting his hands up like he was surrendering.

 

“Damn right you should be sorry,” Keith growled. “Apology accepted, I guess.”

 

Example Three: Preparing food. Hunk sometimes roped the other paladins into cooking food with him. One-on-one bonding sesh, he called them.

 

It was Keith’s turn. What a disaster, okay- Keith broke an egg substitute a foot behind the actual bowl. And then he caused a bunch of stacked bowls to fall on his head- can you say ‘thick skull’? God damn. And then he stood half a foot in front of the oven door (space oven substitute) and still fumbled for the handle. 

 

This boy. They should get him a cybernetic eye. 

 

***

 

“We should get you a space-y tech-y eye,” Lance announced. 

 

“No,” Keith replied. “Absolutely not.”

 

Lance’s face crumbled into a defensive position. “And why not?” he asked, dangerously calm.

 

Shiro hated just being around their rivalry.

 

“Because,” Keith said, “I don’t want to have- I don’t want to look like Sendak. Remember him?”

 

Shiro shuddered, and felt Allura place a hand on his shoulder. 

 

Lance narrowed his eyes at Keith. “You don’t want to have awesome, advanced technology implemented into your body because you don’t want to look like a minor villain at best.”

 

Keith crossed his arms and nodded wordlessly.

 

Lance looked around, then found Hunk. “Hunk, my man, please explain to Keith why he should get a new eye?’ he asked, sickly sweet.

 

Hunk pointed at himself, like,  _ me? _ Lance nodded, and Hunk gulped. Way to go, Lance, putting your teammates in the spotlight.

 

“Well,” Hunk started, “You’d get your depth perception back. Binocular vision. And Pidge and I could mod the shit out of it- like, thermal vision, x-ray vision, hah, all sorts of cool stuff. I think it’s a good idea.”

 

Lance nodded during Hunk’s whole speech. “I think we should put it to a vote,” he exclaimed. “All for Keith getting a new eye?”

 

Keith gingerly touched his eyepatch. Shiro looked at the edges of the scar around the patch that the pod couldn’t fully heal. “Isn’t it too soon?” Keith asked tentatively.

 

Pidge shrugged. “I’m not an eye doctor, and we don’t have any human doctors anywhere close, but I wouldn’t think so.”

 

“Let’s not vote on a personal decision,” Shiro said. “I think Keith should decide if he wants a new eye or not.”

 

Quietly, Keith asked, “Would I be able to see out of this side of my face again? Like, not a glass eye- could you make me see?”

 

Pidge and Hunk looked at each other, then turned to Keith and said, “Yes.”

 

Keith felt around the edges of his eyepatch. “I’ll think about it,” he said. 

 

Lance looked around the room. “Okay, but now I’m curious- all for Keith getting a new eye?”

 

Keith shrugged. Everyone else raised their hands- “We get to make an eye,” Pidge explained. “It’s beneficial to the team,” Shiro said. 

 

“Okay, okay,” Keith said. “I’ll let you know tomorrow, but right now I’m tired, so I’m going to go sleep.” 

 

He walked out of the room, and Lance said to Shiro, “We should see how he fights against the Gladiator like this.”

 

Shiro shrugged. Might be a good decision.

 

***

 

Traxen’s hand-held beeped. “File Request Accepted” flashed across the screen. Traxen hurriedly swiped the message away and tried to focus on the meeting- the use of resources extracted from Myas, and how they should be distributed among the Galra Empire, glorious may it be, all hail Emperor Zarkon the Great. Traxen thought slide presentations should be banned.

 

Commander Ghoar slapped the screen displaying the current slide with a pointer stick. “In related news, I believe that Fourth Officer Traxen should be second in command aboard the paltry supply ship  _ Nicetius _ . The  _ Nicetius _ will be exporting less developed smawgs to headquarters, a trip that will take twenty days to complete. As we all know, smawgs are a true initiation test for any new Galra officer- more so babies, or less developed ones.

 

“Druids need the smawgs- do not ask why, because no one knows themselves and the druids are damn sure not going to say anything. All in favor?” Ghoar landed in parade rest and waited for the rest of the officers to vote.

 

An overwhelming ‘aye’. Traxen didn’t know why they were so against him. Probably just because he was new, even though he was just a fourth officer. 

 

The meeting adjourned. Commander Ghoar gave Traxen directions to the smawg containers- section 6-B. Traxen hesitated for a second, thoughts running wild- that wasn’t far away from where Traxen was on guard, and he didn’t have anyone with him-

 

It was just a perverse desire to see the place where the red paladin got maybe-killed. Traxen shrugged it off and strode quickly to section 6-B. He was a soldier- more than that, he was an officer, and a sterling example to any Galra citizen. Soldiers were of the highest class and should conduct themselves in such a manner.

 

The voice prattling along in Traxen’s head sounded like his old Academy professor, Sir Bojko, who taught military history and war strategy. Not Traxen’s favorite superior officer by a long shot.

 

Oh, the file that got transferred- that could wait until he was alone on the supply ship to look at it. The  _ Nicetius _ only had an eight-person crew, so Traxen was almost assured to get a room to himself.

 

***

 

Traxen did not get a room to himself. In fact, he laid in a bunk surrounded by three other crew members, all fifth officers. At least they weren’t foot soldiers- none of the crew on the  _ Nicetius _ were foot soldiers, actually. Six fifth officers, one fourth officer (Traxen himself), and one second officer, sometimes called a master sergeant but would prefer to be called Sergeant Usthanes. 

 

Traxen couldn’t fall asleep, but the others certainly could- Oh, Divinity, check the dumb transfer file already before they take it back. Oops, digital- before they delete it off of his hand-held.

 

The room was pitch black, and Traxen’s hand-held’s brightness had to be turned down a lot. He winced. “Put that star away,” a fifth officer grumbled. “Arros knows you need to sleep- we’ve got smawgs to take care of in the morning.”

  
“Sorry,” Traxen whispered. He’ll just do it later, when he was in the bathroom or something. He switched off his hand-held and slipped it into the nook next to his bunk. Laying on his side, he thought about his mother’s house on Aegina to put him in the mood to sleep.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter includes my personal favorite headcanon: Lance carries around a small blue hand mirror to check his hair
> 
> Got any questions? Ask me at http://rage-crystals.tumblr.com/
> 
> Comments and kudos are really appreciated!!


	3. Chapter 3

Keith didn’t know  _ why  _ he had to train with his eye missing. 

 

Missing, gone, same difference. Keith didn’t know what to call it. Missing, gone, torn apart while still in his face.

 

It still hurt, though. He didn’t tell anyone else, because how crazy would it sound if Keith told them he could feel his eye filling with blood and just about ready to burst? 

 

Keith’s bayard activated without him noticing. He played it off like he meant to activate it, even though he wasn’t in the training room yet. 

 

Allura had activated the gladiator before Keith stepped into the room. Keith spared a glance to the control room, where everyone else was watching his every move. (No pressure.) He had to turn more, since the control room was on his blind side, and that cost him precious seconds as the gladiator sprinted forward.

 

Keith just barely caught the blow with his bayard. It was a good thing he saw it coming from the corner of his eye, though he couldn’t determine how far away it was, just how small it seemed. 

 

He skidded back just under a foot, trying to keep the gladiator’s staff from hitting him on the head. With one really, really hard push, the gladiator took a step back and took the pressure off of Keith’s bayard.

 

With no time to pause, the gladiator swung for Keith’s side, trying to sweep him or wind him. Keith planted his feet and bore the blow, trying to gauge the distance the bot was from him. More than an arm’s length, less than his arm and his bayard combined. Good. 

 

It was a little hard to do math in his head when his heart was beating faster and faster in his chest. It was a little hard to push himself when his muscles strained and his side burned from the gladiator’s staff. But Keith pushed himself and he did the math in his head and he yelled to the room in general, “What fucking level did you put this fucking bot on?”

 

“Um, three,” Allura’s voice said. 

 

“Fuck,” Keith muttered. 

 

The gladiator came for Keith’s side again, probably knowing it was weak. That wasn’t his blind side, thank god, so Keith was able to block the staff and even get a slice in the bot.

 

The rest of the fight went by in a blur. Keith came back to himself, standing in front of the fallen body of the gladiator and breathing hard.

 

There was silence in the room. Keith looked up to the control box, imagining he could see Shiro’s and all their faces staring back. 

 

“Cool,” Shiro’s voice said. Keith’s chest unhitched- he hadn’t even known his breath was caught. “You did exceptionally well,” Shiro continued.

 

“I agree,” Allura’s voice said. “I didn’t expect you to do so well, considering you lost an eye two days ago.”

 

“You took a minute and a half to defeat the gladiator,” Coran’s voice said over the intercom. “You can watch the replay up here with us.”

 

Keith thought the fight took longer.

 

***

 

Don’t listen to what anyone else says: Smawgs are  _ demon animals. _

 

Traxen had to bottle-feed a smawg that thought his hand or his head would make a much more interesting snack while two fifth officers held it down. The fifth officers had to make sure none of them got clawed by the smawg- smawgs had poisonous talons that would cause a Galra to swell up and lose his sense of taste for three weeks.

 

And they had fifteen more smawgs to deal with.

 

_ Fuck, _ Traxen thought. He’d already had a couple close shaves with the talons and the acid drool and the knock-out breath with just this one first smawg. 

 

“The first smawg is always the easiest,” one of the fifth officers said while being bounced around on the smawg’s back leg. She had her body thrown across the smawg, holding its legs between her own and using her massive weight to keep the back end of the beast pinned to the ground.

 

Traxen couldn’t help but groan when she said that, and the fifth officer laughed.

 

“You’re a fourth officer, too, which means you have the pleasure of feeding these vile creatures while us two lowly fifth officers- ugh!- while us two fifth officers have to hold down this thing,” she continued. “My name’s K’unagi, but just call me Una.”

 

“Pleasure to meet you, K’unagi,” Traxen said absent-mindedly, trying to dodge acid drool again. “I’m Traxen.”

 

“Traxen,” Una said, contemplating the word. “That’s a nice name.”

 

The other fifth officer, who was holding the smawg’s long neck as much as they could and using their other arm to block the smawg’s forelegs, groaned. “Can’t you two flirt somewhere else, where we’re not dealing with smawgs and I’m not in the middle of you two?”

 

“Oh, shut it,” Una said. “Traxen and I are just getting introduced to each other. Being friendly and whatnot.”

 

Traxen was up close and personal enough to see the fifth officer’s mouth pull in a faint grimace. “I’m Cewydd,” they said. “Fifth officer of the Galra Empire-”

 

“Glorious may it be, all hail Emperor Zarkon the Great,” everyone chorused with various degrees of enthusiasm.

 

“Fourth officer Traxen,” Traxen said unnecessarily. 

 

“I know,” Cewydd said. “Did you really kill Voltron, and that’s why you got promoted?”

 

Traxen shrugged, regretting it as some acid drool landed on his fancy new armor. “I guess,” he said. “I mean, I shot the red paladin of Voltron in the eye, but we don’t know if he’s still alive or not- his friends got him out of the room I was guarding before I could tell.”

 

Cewydd and Una looked at each other, awe plainly written on their faces.

 

“Wow,” Una whispered. “And you’re only a fourth officer?”

 

“Yep,” Traxen said, trying to get the bottle back between the smawg’s lips. They were almost done. “I wasn’t expecting to get this promotion, either.”

 

Una made an appreciative sound. “He’s humble, too,” she murmured.

 

Cewydd ‘ugh’d and pulled their mouth again. 

 

Traxen blushed.

 

***

 

“So it turns out we can’t actually make a cyber eye for Keith,” Pidge said. “We don’t have the right materials, and the materials we do have, we don’t think they’ll be compatible with human nerves and brains and whatever.”

 

Shiro groaned. “Great. Now what?”

 

“What do you mean, now what?” Lance asked. “Now he gets a cool, custom-made eye patch from some place or another and he gets a whole story about how cool and epic and awesome he was, fighting fifteen elite Galra soldiers with just a toothpick.”

 

“That’s not actually what happened, Lance,” Keith said from the corner of the second living room.

 

“You’ll get to embellish the story. Trust me, the ladies love a good story.”

 

“While I do appreciate a good story as much as the next lady,” Hunk said, “We need to figure out- how will this affect Voltron?”

 

“It won’t,” Keith said. “I’m good at fighting, even with one eye. I’ll be fine.”

 

Shiro looked at Keith disapprovingly. “You lost an  _ eye,” _ he pointed out again.

 

“And you lost an  _ arm,” _ Keith countered again.

 

“Still,” Shiro said, trying not to let what Keith said affect his decision again, “it’s a pretty big thing and I don’t think you should be put back into the action yet.”

 

“It’s mostly healed,” Keith said. “Doesn’t hurt at all.”  _ Liar. _ “Besides, Zarkon won’t wait a second for me to heal all the way before he comes after us or before we need Voltron. Any minor inconveniences I might have are far outweighed by the needs of the universe.”

 

Shiro thought he heard Pidge mutter something, but he shelved it for later. 

 

“I agree with Keith,” Allura said, imperial as always. Shiro couldn’t help but notice she got more regal when she made a hard decision that everyone else went against. “I believe Keith will continue to perform wonderfully, even while missing a vital piece of himself. I believe he should continue his duties as the Red Paladin for the time being.”

 

Keith let a faint grin cross his face, but Shiro thought it was forced in the way it didn’t quite meet his eyes.

 

***

 

Traxen absolutely hated smawgs. His new armor was totally ruined, he’d already started to swell up since Cewydd let a claw slip past, and his head still rung from getting knocked out by a sneeze. His pride was ruined, too.

 

Una fell into step beside Traxen. She said something, but Traxen couldn’t hear her over the bells in his head. He thought they were beginning to sound like the call to prayer on Aegina. He tried to remember how it went- then he remembered he could never hear them again to make sure he was right, and he was just pretending to hear a marching song like always.

 

“You did well,” Una said.

 

“Thank you, Una,” Traxen said back, grateful she could pull him out of the spiral of his memories before they got too intense.

 

“You got hit pretty bad by that one smawg’s breath,” she continued, probably intending to do a whole play-by-play of the whole feeding experience. “I thought we were going to have to take you to the med bay, but then you sprang up and started coughing up something green. It was pretty nasty.”

 

“Thanks,” Traxen said sarcastically. “I definitely needed to hear that right after it happened.”

 

“Nah, man, we’ve got to do all this again at eighteen hundred.”

 

Traxen groaned. “Look, I need to use to toilet- I’ll meet you in the mess hall, ’kay?”

 

“‘Kay,” Una said. “See you in a few.”

 

Traxen split apart from the others and cut down a couple hallways to the toilet. He locked the door behind him and glanced around to make sure no one was in there with him. 

 

He didn’t know why he was being so secretive. It just seemed like the right thing to do- he wasn’t exactly the person who was supposed to handle cyber security. Others could ask questions Traxen couldn’t answer.

 

God, Divinity, he couldn’t even tell  _ himself _ why he was so perversely interested in the Red Paladin. Why did he have to come into the room Traxen was guarding? Why couldn’t he have been changed out with some other guard? Why was Traxen so hung up on maybe-killing The Enemy? He kept asking himself why, why, why, until it rang around his head and he thought for sure he could hear the church bells of a long-dead religion.

 

The file was in his inbox. Traxen had to double click to open, and found a slide presentation-

 

_ The Use of Resource Extraction from Previously Unknown Planets and Their Inhabitants _

_ Presented by Commander Ghoar _

 

Commander Ghoar? Traxen knew Ghoar was a fan of slide presentations, but still, this file was fairly recently made and Ghoar didn’t seem like he had the time to make it. Traxen checked the side. Twenty-six slides.

 

_ Previously Unknown Planets _

_ The Galra Empire, glorious may it be, all hail Emperor Zarkon the Great, has expanded farther than thought possible in the past ten thousand years. Ten thousand years ago, we did not know there were star systems and life-giving planets beyond what we could see with our naked eye. Today, however, we have travelled far and pushed the boundaries of space to expand our reach to almost the entirety of the known universe- and we will continue to expand in the years to come. May we be victorious in our pursuit to expand the Galra Empire, glorious may it be, all hail Emperor Zarkon the Great. _

 

There was a picture of a cloud nebula next to the wall of text. Knowing how Commander Ghoar presented these things, the entire audience had to sit through Ghoar reading the slide in his monotonous voice. Traxen thought he did introductory slides just to mess around with his cadets’ minds and patience.

 

_ Previously Unknown Resources _

 

  * __Myas: home to legions of under-developed smawgs. Plans to extract are underway.__


  * _Druids use smawg drool to create burn worms. For further information on Burn Worms, please contact your local historian on the Fall of Altea._


  * _Puillen: plemunkets are harvested by the thousands. Used for prisoner meals; plans to extract are being made._



 

 

Traxen couldn’t have cared less about Myas and Puillen, except apparently all they needed smawgs for was drool. Couldn’t they have just bottled that up and shipped it off, instead of having to infantilize fully grown creatures?

 

_ Previously Unknown Resources, Cont. _

 

  * __Qataar: While destroyed, Qataaran rocks have been seen floating around a single source. Druids are investigating. Current hypothesis: Qataar was home to a powerful source of quintessence that was not destroyed along with its home planet.__


  * _Earth: Three prisoners have been captured from Earth. Druids have recorded much endurance from one prisoner, and have since been experimenting on all three prisoners extensively. However, one prisoner’s death has set back experiments for the time being._



 

 

Traxen couldn’t tear his eyes away from the pictures. A close-up of apparently an Earthling’s face, but Traxen wouldn’t have been able to recognize it if he hadn’t seen a human just like that less than six cycles ago- the Red Paladin.

 

The human’s mouth hole was pulled open with clamps, and tubes were snaking into their delicate cheek fat- Traxen couldn’t figure out why, or what those tubes were used for- force feeding? Poison? He shuddered and moved his gaze up, to where there was a full-body picture of the human. 

 

More tubes snaked out of the human’s body, from their arms- they only had one set- to their torso. Traxen thought he could see yellow liquid in the tubes being fed into the human’s body, but he couldn’t zoom in and make sure. 

 

Traxen had to clamp a hand over his mouth to stop from throwing up. It’s just… he wouldn't wish such a punishment on his worst enemy. Even on The Enemy. To be experimented on, to have tubes shoved into one’s body, to be strapped down and poked and prodded for days on end…

 

Traxen found, suddenly, that his appetite left him. He almost laughed, the thought of seeing Una like this, unaware and oblivious in the mess hall, too hilarious for words.

 

He had to leave, but first he had to suffer through twenty three more slides of this presentation. Then he had to get it to the Red Paladin-

 

_ Fuck _ the Galra Empire.

 

***

 

Alarms were blaring through the castle, but Allura had already sent her paladins out. She put her hair up in a bun, all business.

 

Princess Allura Alforschild had learned long ago- a very, very long time ago- that she worked better with her hair out of her face. She thought she looked professional, so she acted professionally. Acting professionally meant creating priorities off the top of her head and watching the patterns of The Enemy to find, in a split second, where they were going next. Acting professionally meant having her paladins trust in her every word, meant having them know she would never (intentionally) steer them wrong. Acting professionally meant acting responsibly. Meant acting like her father.

 

“Green, Blue, watch each other’s sixes. I want you two joined at the backside, taking down the drones in a three-sixty degree. Yellow, Red, start on the main ship- we’re not dealing with a fleet or a robeast today, don’t think we’ll need Voltron. Yellow, ion cannon- you know what to do. Red, damage the main ship as much as you can- summon your sword, slice it open. Black, I want you to cover when necessary- your teammates need you more than you need them. Other than that, if you do not believe your team needs any assistance at all, I want you to defend the Castle along with us. Coran and I will be using our shield and our shield’s lasers to return fire. Everyone copy?”

 

“Copy,” five voices said. Allura set a scanner for every tiny ship in the vicinity- helped that Galra had converted to digital sometime in the past ten thousand years ago. She marked her lions as friendlies and set the castle to open fire on all other targets, down to and including the main Galra ship. 

 

Things started to go wrong almost immediately.

 

Purple crackled over the lights in the command center, and a Galra commander popped up on the screen. 

 

“I am Commander Ghoar,” he said through his tusks. “You will surrender instantly or you will die.”

 

Allura didn’t know how the Galra kept hacking into the Castle’s main comms. Probably something to do with the lingering effects of Sendak’s crystal. She discarded the message without deigning to reply.

 

Allura put all her focus on the battle. “Green, what did I tell you about watching sixes- Blue almost got hit by a drone. When I say back to back I mean back to back. Copy?”

 

“Yes, Allura,” Pidge said sheepishly over the comms. Allura let a small smile grace her face for a second- she’d never admit it, but having five people under her command made her feel powerful. Made her feel like she had a fraction of the command she had ten thousand years ago, when she was Princess Heir to the entire Altean Empire.

 

It was just a fraction of command, but Allura would take anything she could grab to make her feel even a fraction as powerful as she was before.

 

“Black, what are you doing- go help Green and Blue before they’re shot to- to hell. Hell, right? Disregard that last statement. Get to it.”

 

“Yes, Allura.”

 

“Red, watch your back,” Hunk said over the comms. “I’m leaving you to get to work on the cannon. Princess, is that alright?”

 

“Yes,” Allura said. “Red, use your Divinity-damned sword, would you? If it’s there, use it. Don’t be dumb about it.”

 

“Roger,” Keith muttered. 

 

Allura continued to bark commands at her paladins. “Black, go help Red.” “Yellow, abandon the cannon for now and get the left flank of the drones.” “Green, Blue, head right and cut off the Galra- see where they’re breaking off to attack Lwiowl? Go.”

 

Allura noticed the progress of her paladins and thought about how far they’ve come since they took up the role of defenders of the universe. There had been setbacks, that’s for sure, and they weren’t at the level the paladins of old were- but give it time, and Allura would bet her soul they’d best Zarkon and free the universe from the Galra empire.

 

Everyone was performing well, even Keith, who had no way of telling how far away his enemies were. Sure, he would sometimes fire upon a ship that was too close or too far away, but that was just to be expected and would never be able to be fixed.

 

Allura was more interested in Lance and Pidge’s movements. They couldn’t keep on each others sixes- Lance because he was too impulsive  and scatter-brained for his own good, Pidge because they saw an opportunity and they ran with it as far as they could.

 

Allura remembered a time when she and Shiro were speaking of old stories from their respective planets. Shiro told her of Harry Potter, a young man who discovered he had magical powers. Allura was confused about ‘discovering’ magic, as it had been discovered for a little over ten thousand years, but she kept her thoughts to herself. There was one part about the story that Shiro disliked- One magic user, a man named- Snap? Snape. Snape and Dumbledore discussing a deceased magic user.

 

“Sometimes, I think we sort too soon,” Allura mumbled under her breath. She was thinking about how she could possibly be wrong about the Red Paladin- it was one thing to be Princess Heir to a planet, and another thing entirely to be the sole ruler of said planet, even though it was destroyed. Allura suddenly doubted herself, her ability to make decisions, and the choices she’d made about the lions and defending the universe.

 

“Wait, did I hear that right? Did Allura just quote Harry Potter?” Lance’s voice was a welcome distraction from the dangerous spiral Allura’s thoughts were taking her.

 

“Oh, I don’t know,” Allura said. “I apologize. Now come on- I want all of you to focus your attentions on the main ship now. Red, you can break off and eliminate the last of the drones while the rest of you destroy that ship. Copy?”

 

“Yes, Princess!” Five voices came over the comms in unison, and Allura thought for a moment that they were about to form Voltron- she thought she saw a small ship shoot off from the main, but the sparkling explosion caught her eye before she could process anything else.

  
“Good work, paladins,” Allura said into the silence over the air. “Let’s get down onto Lwiowl and see if we’re not met with a celebratory feast.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years, everyone! Here's to hoping that 2017 is much better than the past year!
> 
> I bring you my personal second-favorite OC, smawgs, and Allura quoting Harry Potter.
> 
> If you want to learn more about burn worms, which I have written about before, check out my Allura-centric story http://archiveofourown.org/works/8545171


	4. Chapter 4

Traxen was on the twelfth slide. It seemed like the first couple slides of the presentation were just a cover for detailing the experiments made on the Earthlings. Traxen quickly scrolled through the remaining slides, slowly becoming aware of Una waiting for him back at the mess hall and the growling beginning in his stomach. Funny, because he didn’t feel hungry at all.

 

_ Earth’s Unknown Resources, Cont. _

 

  * __Earthlings are known to rally quickly after traumatic experiences.__


  * _Example A: Champion showed no physical reaction to being shown the replay of their match, where they terminally defeated four opponents._


  * _They said, “In Japanese, four is an unlucky number because it sounds like the word for death.” We are investigating what “Japanese” is. Current hypothesis: Japanese is a language from Earth.  We do not know if it is the main language yet. Evidence: Words are in Japanese, as well as sounds._



 

 

_ Earth’s Unknown Resources, Cont. _

 

  * __Example B: Earthlings heal quickly. After having their arm cut off, Champion healed quickly enough to have an artificial arm replace their missing limb.__


  * _Example B-II: The other Earthlings’ skin closes rapidly after being cut open, especially while aided with sutures. Earthlings seem to dislike the sensation of needles pushing through skin, however, so we have had to anesthetize the Earthlings several times._



 

 

There was a picture of Champion’s arm, and a close-up of sutures on another Earthling’s skin. Traxen lingered on the slide, letting himself memorize the lines and hidden power behind Champion’s new arm.

 

_ Earth’s Unknown Resources, Cont. _

 

  * __Druids have measured levels of quintessence emitting from the Earthlings at different times, under different levels of stress, and under different circumstances.__


  * _Levels seem to be high after battle, as seen by Champion and their victories; after long hours of sleep; after social time with other species and other Earthlings; and after entertainment is provided. Earthlings do not consider gladiator fights ‘entertainment,’ rather, they exchange stories orally in a primitive sort of entertainment._


  * _Levels are low after just one cycle without food being provided or sleep being allowed; after Champion was killed; after being made to fight in the arena; and after long hours of physical labor such as mining._


  * _Levels fluctuate due to age, health, and physical status._



 

 

There was a chart there, with levels of quintessence readings and the three Earthlings in different colored lines. Traxen thought it was so scientific and detached, almost like it wasn’t real souls being experimented on.

 

There was another picture in the top right corner, so small Traxen almost missed it. It was of the Earthling prisoner, the one with the tubes snaking out of their body from the first couple slides.

 

Traxen could see their eyes. It was so different from what he was used to- instead of a uniform yellow, like you could see all over the galaxy in other Galra eyes, it had a small circle surrounded by white. The circle was brown, a color Traxen didn’t usually see unless he was planetside. The brown circle had a smaller, black circle in the middle of it, that seemed to absorb light. Traxen assumed that was how the Earthlings saw- they let their eyes absorb the fine nuances of light and saw the colors of the universe, instead of shining light onto everything and tracing the lines of things and letting the world color itself in, the way it should be.

 

Traxen shut down the file and saved the rest of the slides for later. Una must be missing him, and Cewydd said he would let his lunch get cold if he didn’t hurry.

 

***

 

There was, indeed, a welcome feast on Lwiowl. Shiro didn’t miss the way the Lwian’s gazes lingered on his arm or on Keith’s eye. 

 

The Lwian reminded Shiro of the wolves or coyotes he would sometimes see on the edge of the horizon when he got away from the Garrison at night. They had the same steely-gray fur, the same pointed ears and long snouts. 

 

Lance would call them furries. He had, in fact, already called them furries. The Lwian seemed to take it as a compliment.

 

Shiro remembered a time when Keith would have jumped at the chance to call them furries, too- back in the Garrison, back when Keith was a freshman and Shiro was close to graduation. Shiro took a moment to think about how different they both were, five years or so down the line.

 

Allura linked her arm through his own. “You seem down,” she said, and Shiro was glad she was there to pull him out of his thoughts.

 

Shiro gave her a wan smile. “I’m fine,” he said, wondering if she could tell he was lying outright.

 

Allura patted his arm where she was holding onto it. “I don’t think you are,” she said, and Shiro cursed in his mind. “You have that look on your face that says you need to talk about what’s on your mind.”

 

Shiro looked up and away from Allura’s face, unable to look her in the eye. “Maybe I do,” he admitted. “But this isn’t the best time to talk about it. We’re about to have a nice dinner with a nice species of, um, wolf hybrids?”

 

“What is a wolf?” Allura asked, trying to stop Shiro from rambling on.

 

Shiro thought about it for a second. “Think these people, but more canine.”

 

Allura thought about it, then shrugged and let it go. There was a lot Shiro would have to show her if they ever got to Earth.

 

A Lwian soldier opened the grand marble (imitator alien marble?) doors to the main dining room. Shiro walked in with Allura still on his arm, which- he tried not to think about what that implied. There were guards stationed around the perimeter of the room, and Shiro kept catching himself staring at their spears from the edge of his eye.

 

There was a throne at the far end of the room, and a stately Lwian sat on it, holding her own spear and wearing blue and gold robes. It didn’t manage to quite hide the ruff on her chest, but Shiro didn’t think she had to really worry about her boobs hanging out. She didn’t have any. She was a wolf.

 

The Lwian ruler gestured to empty seats close to her throne. “Sit,” she growled. Shiro couldn’t stop thinking this was some crazy furry roleplay on DeviantArt or Tumblr and then he just wanted to leave.

 

Allura led Shiro to the right hand of the ruler, and the rest of the paladins fell in behind him. Coran slipped in between Shiro and Allura and shot Shiro a look, like,  _ we’re going to talk about this later. _

 

Shiro gulped, and pulled his chair out. He was seated to close to a weapon for his liking, but he tried to push the sharp point of the ruler’s spear out of his mind.

 

“Thank you for celebrating this victory with us,” Allura began. “I-”

 

The Lwian ruler shot her a look that, shockingly, quieted her. Shiro didn’t think he’d ever seen Allura shut down like that, ever. Was she… was she out-royaled? 

 

The Lwian ruler spoke. “Princess Allura. I thank you, your paladins, who pilot the mighty weapon Voltron- previously thought to be a simple child’s tale- and your advisor for coming to the aid of Lwiowl, mighty may she reign forever. We invite you to a feast in your honor. On our mighty planet, it is custom for the ruler to speak about our great history- but that would take three days to tell the many tales, and we are sure you have no time to spare in your quest to rid the galaxy of the insignificant bug called Zarkon. For now, we, the people of Lwiowl, mighty may she reign forever, invite the paladins of Voltron and her fearsome general to a night of celebration of victory.”

 

The soldiers stationed on the perimeter of the room beat their spears on the ground in a rhythm, like a sick parody of applause. It made Shiro jump and put him on edge- he didn’t like not being able to see the weapons behind him, he didn’t like being able to see if a Lwian soldier was lowering his spear ready to plunge into the back of Shiro’s head.

 

He surreptitiously glanced over his shoulder and was only slightly mollified that the soldier stationed behind him was beating their spear on the ground, staring at their ruler blankly. It was, in all honesty, very creepy. Shiro didn’t like the militaristic values Lwiowl seemed to place on her subjects.

 

The ruler, who introduced herself as Crown-Ruler Asmii, gestured grandly but firmly, and the doors Shiro came through opened to bring in huge platters of steaming food. The Lwians holding the platters didn’t seem to strain under the weight, even though they must have weighed a lot. About ten or so Lwians filed out, and placed their platters on the long table.

 

Shiro expected to see other courtesans sitting up and down the table, but it was just the Voltron crew and the Crown-Ruler Asmii. Shiro knew she had introduced herself at some point, he just couldn’t… remember when. He assumed that it was just said when he was deep in thought and his brain picked it up.

 

Crown-Ruler Asmii gestured to the paladins to load their plates. Shiro didn’t think about how he knew what that gesture meant, but he knew he shouldn’t have known. The food smelled great.

 

***

 

Traxen did not know why he hurried to eat his standard-issue meal packs. They were cold to begin with and not fresh- they were in space. Come on.

 

Una grinned and dug an elbow into Traxen’s side. “What’s with the face? You aren’t liking your standard issue ready meal? Dig in!”

 

Traxen huffed out through his nose and let the side of his mouth quirk up. “It’s cold.”

 

Cewydd scoffed into his own ready meal. “I told you I’d let it get cold. Did you listen? No. You did not listen. What kind of megashit-”

 

“Anyways,” Una said. “We’ve got a break until twenty hours, so I was thinking we could go to the rec room and play some Snap. I’ve got a pack of cards, we could get to know each other- of course, Cewydd’s got some reports to file, so it’ll just be you and me, Traxen!” Una beamed at Traxen, who let some small grains slip off of his utensil.

 

Cewydd screwed his face up in confusion and mild anger. “I- that’s  _ your _ job, Una,” he said. “This is just-”

 

“I’ll do it next time,” Una said with a dismissive gesture. “Besides, we need to get to know Traxen. He’s mysterious. He’s quiet. He’s tall, and dark, and handsome. If we don’t take him in, someone else will snatch him up and where will we be? Traxen-less.”

 

Traxen let Una and Cewydd bicker before he said, “Actually, I can’t do anything right now- I have to, um, make sure this one file is free from malware. Cyber security division duties.”

 

Una sighed and leaned into Traxen. “Bummer. So you’re in cyber security along with transport? Cool. So responsible.”

 

“It’s because you’re a fourth officer, isn’t it,” Cewydd said. “And you’ve proven yourself on the battlefield by killing the Red Paladin. So the higher-ups are giving you more chances to prove yourself. So you’re rising in the ranks.”

 

Traxen let them reinforce his lies with their own theories. “Yep.”

 

Una sighed again and looked at her fingernails. “I can’t wait to become a fourth officer. Is it fun?”

 

Traxen shrugged and shovelled food into his mouth. It might be cold, but he needed to eat something. “I don’t know. It’s only my, um, second day. I think? Maybe my third day. It’s been a lot harder than a foot soldier, that’s for sure.”

 

Una and Cewydd let Traxen finish his meal in peace, choosing to head to the rec hall and play Snap when Cewydd got stuck on his report. Why reports on a simple feeding routine of smawgs, Traxen did not know. The Galra Empire was odd, glorious may it be, all hail- wait. Stop. 

 

Traxen shook it off and went to see how he could send the file to the Red Paladin. Locked away in the bathroom again, he fiddled with the signal controls, trying to see how he could possibly send the slide show. 

 

He didn’t even know where to begin. He didn’t know the call sign the Paladin used, or what the main ship Voltron used, or even if they would accept Galra transmissions. 

 

Traxen thumped his head on the wall. This was hard, and he wasn’t even a transmissions officer. Sure, he had basic training in it (thank you, Sir Bojko), but he didn’t know jack shit about shit.

 

He tried to pull up his memories from the class he took, but by the Divinity, it was hard. Something about being in range of the target ship, which they were definitely not- Traxen had heard something about Commander Ghoar attacking Lwiowl and engaging Voltron, but nothing else, and anyways they were far away from Ghoar by now and headed for the opposite end of the galaxy.

 

Traxen thumped his head on the stall again, and again and again when it felt good. 

 

Maybe he could hijack the  _ Nicetius. _ Maybe that was a bad idea, but it was all he got- and if you decide to defect from the Galra Empire, you go hard or you go home. Traxen had heard stories whispered in the dark about Galra rebel factions, but nothing on the main news stream.

 

He’d had the seeds of rebellion in him since the beginning. Ever since Aegina exploded- was destroyed by the Galra Empire, more like- with his mother and the rest of his family still on it, may the Divinity shelter them in Their embrace. Ever since a thought sprung into his head one day, unbidden- What if they’re holding things from us? What are they hiding?

 

Would Emperor Zarkon ever die and relinquish his vast empire to a successor? What was the point of bringing all of these planets to kneel at Zarkon’s knee? It was… it had never seemed right.

 

Traxen took a deep breath and stopped beating his head on the wall. He couldn’t let Zarkon win. If that meant hijacking the  _ Nicetius, _ so be it- he could do it. He had shot the Red Paladin. He- he had killed the Red Paladin. He could do it. He could.

 

***

 

Crown-Ruler Asmii was deep in conversation with Allura about an alliance with Voltron. Shiro looked at Asmii- how hadn’t he noticed how soft her fur looked, how resplendent she looked in those robes?

 

How could he have ever thought those weapons were threatening? Asmii would protect him. No, more than that- she would never let anything happen to him. She would never order anyone to harm a hair on his head.

 

Allura sent Keith to get a transmitter for Asmii. He got up from his chair, which scraped on the floor and sent a flare of anger through Shiro- how dare he mark the floor of Amsii’s dining hall? It was like he was harming the Crown-Ruler herself. Shiro shot a sharp glare over his shoulder at Keith, who didn’t see it because he was half-blind.

 

That was going to seriously hurt Voltron’s chances. They couldn’t honestly rely on a paladin who was disabled like that, who couldn’t be relied on to tell the difference between a foot and fifty when aiming. Who couldn’t tell the difference between friend and foe. 

 

They would eventually have to replace Keith anyways. He was too reckless, too impulsive- of all of them, if Shiro was being completely honest with himself, Keith would be the first to die. The first to be killed by the Galra Empire, if only by sheer coincidence or bad luck. Shiro knew all about Keith’s bad luck.

 

Keith came back, transmitter in hand, and he seemed… different. Shiro couldn’t figure it out, until he could- Keith was dangerous. The transmitter could be used as a blunt weapon- he could hurt his paladins, hell he could hurt Asmii-

 

***

 

Keith stopped in the doorway. He didn’t know why everyone at the table was suddenly glaring at him, but it put him on edge. His own teammates- Lance he was used to, Pidge sometimes, and Allura, those were all people who did glare at him sometimes, but Shiro? And Hunk? What the hell was going on?

 

He read the energy in the room, and it was telling him not to go in there. It was telling him to run, and he could always trust his instincts, so run he did. Just duck out of the doorframe and start running for his life- for his life?

 

_ He’s trying to escape, _ something in his mind said. It itched the back of his head, but he couldn’t spare a hand to scratch it.  _ He’s not suitable to be the red paladin GO AFTER HIM! _

 

Keith heard footsteps pounding behind him and he risked a glance over his shoulder to see Shiro’s purple Galra hand lit up and leaving a trail and he was gaining-

 

But Keith could out run any of them, he could, he was the fastest person on one of his old high school’s track team. Not to mention he darted corners unexpectedly, even to him- he was shocked he could tell when they were upon him and that he never ran into a wall, not even once.

 

Pidge lunged out of a side corridor at him, teeth bared and fingers curled into claws. Keith neatly side-stepped them and ducked down the corridor behind them, trying to think if that was a bad idea, but panic was in his bones now.

 

Keith was fast, sure, but so was Shiro. And Keith was losing his rhythm. He was a sprinter, not a marathon runner, he was built for short distances on sunny days and breaking the finish line tape with his chest. He wasn’t built for running for his life down a dark and deserted hallways from his own teammates.

 

He pulled his breath from his lungs and kept his feet pounding the pavement-

 

For a moment, he was stumbling over his feet in seventh grade, trying to finish running the mile in the baking Texas sun while the real athletes were sitting on the astroturf and laughing.

 

Then he was back in an alien castle running from the people he should trust with his life and he thought,  _ Is that what Shiro feels all the time? _

 

Being flung violently into a memory made Keith trip, and he was flat on his stomach when Shiro caught up and kicked him in the side. Keith rolled and Shiro used that momentum to slam Keith into a wall. Keith cracked the back of his head on the wall and was dazed for a second.

 

Keith just barely saw the glow trail in time- he thought- so he was able to flinch out of the way of Shiro’s arm. He dived the way he came and started to run, but Shiro caught his shoulder and slammed Keith down onto the ground. Seemed Shiro wasn’t afraid to fight dirty, but he should know better- the high school where he was on the track team expelled him for being in a gang. Keith knew how to fight dirty, too.

 

And Keith had a knife, not that he wanted to use it.

 

Not running meant Keith could suck some air into his lungs, though defending himself from Shiro’s kicks and blows took almost as much energy.

 

“Snap out of it, Shiro!” he finally found the air to gasp. “You’re not- this isn’t you!”

 

“Shut up,” Shiro growled, and brought down his human arm hard across Keith’s face. Keith felt blood fill up in his mouth, and he spit to the side. 

 

Keith viciously kicked Shiro’s sides, and saw him weaken visibly. It wasn’t much, but Shiro was panting for breath and weak, so Keith was able to throw him off and continue running. Maybe running back to the castle ship would help, maybe if he could get them out of range of this planet and its Crown-Ruler-

 

He rounded a corner and crashed directly into Lance, who grabbed Keith in a sick parody of a hug and pinned his arms to his side and lifted him off his feet so he couldn’t run. “Gotcha,” Lance said, his smirk still in place like he wasn’t being brainwashed. 

 

Keith struggled like hell, kicking his feet, and straining, but Lance was immune. “Yeah, I got like, seven siblings and more cousins than I can count, so I’m not going to let you go,” Lance droned. “My shins are permanently bruised. I’ve got arms like a Disney prince. You can try, but nothing will work.”

 

Lance looked over Keith’s shoulder and grinned. “Hunk, my man, will you have the pleasure of carrying our dear Keith to Asmii? She’ll be so pleased with all of us.” Keith whipped his head around, trying to see Hunk. He heard something rip- fabric? And when he felt his wrists being pulled together he redoubled his efforts to escape.

 

Lance tsked. “Can’t have you escaping,” he said, readjusting his grip. Keith strained even more than he could and tried to pull his wrists apart, but whatever Hunk did, it worked to keep his wrists together. Hunk took Keith from Lance and slung him over his shoulder. 

 

It was almost like they were the same people. All of it was humiliating in its own right, but that one fact- Lance being sarcastic as usual, Hunk being the kind friend he always was- well, not to Keith, but Hunk was never kind to his enemies. That one fact scared Keith more than he cared to admit.

 

Shiro and Pidge fell into step with Hunk and Lance. Keith was facing where they had been, so he could lock eyes with Pidge, who was walking behind the whole group.

 

“Pidge,” Keith said. 

 

They looked away.

 

“Pidge, come on. Look at me. You really think I’d- what did you think I was going to do, anyway?”

 

“Don’t pretend,” they growled, crossing their arms and hunching into themselves. “You know what you were going to do. You were going to use the transmitter to brain Asmii.”

 

Keith realized he had dropped the transmitter sometime when he had been chased. “You know I would never do that.”

 

Lance reached around Hunk to smack Keith on the back of the head. “No one wants to hear your traitorous excuses. Shut up.”

 

Keith didn’t shut up. He was rebellious, so sue him. “Guys, snap out of it- whatever she’s doing to you, it’s not true, I would never-”

 

Keith blacked out when Shiro smacked him again.

 

***

 

There were weapons in the weapons room, which, no shit. Traxen swiped his card and was grateful that he was second-in-command on this ship, even though that title might be taken away soon enough.

 

He stocked up on daggers and blasters. Thank Divinity for big standard-issue pockets, thank god for clips on belts for blaster holders.

 

Sergeant Usthanes was the one who guided the ship through the galaxy. To get the ship where he needed it, Traxen would have to take him out first. Unfortunately, there were alarm systems in the cockpit in case the heartbeat of the pilot was taken fully off of the handles without prior warning or if the pilot’s heartbeat just stopped. Traxen would have to eliminate the rest of the crew before he could eliminate the pilot.

 

Everyone would be in the rec room this time of day, except for Sarge Usthanes. They were being piloted through a asteroid belt at the moment and Usthanes couldn’t let his guard down. 

 

Traxen paused right outside the door. Was this really the right way? Could he just leave his crewmates tied up or something?

 

No, but leave Una and Cewydd for last- for first? What would be a mercy?

 

Traxen pushed those thoughts from his mind and crouched down, loading his first blaster and taking a shot at the fifth officer sitting on the couch. They dropped, and the screaming began.

 

Traxen took a small step to the room, still crouched for a smaller target and not being where they expect him to be, and shot the other person sitting on the couch. Whirl around- two down, four to go- two people sitting at the high table, one was getting off her chair and a word was forming on her lips before Traxen shot her and before he realized it was Una but no time for that 

  
  
  


Blam, blam, Una and everyone was down except for Cewydd, who had their hands up and asked, “Why?”

 

Traxen stared down at Una’s body, at the corpse of what could have been an amazing relationship. “Because  _ fuck _ the Galra empire.”

 

“Glorious may it be, all hail Emperor Zarkon,” Cewydd whispered frantically. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”

 

Cewydd took a deep breath, and closed their eyes. “Okay,” they whispered. “Okay. I’ll join you.”

 

Traxen lowered his blaster in shock. “What?”

 

“I’ll join you,” Cewydd said firmly. “Fuck the Galra empire. They never- I’ve been a fifth officer for years. I’ll never rise up in the ranks but I deserve more,” they said bitterly.

 

Traxen hesitated for a solid second. “That’s the whole reason you hate the Galra empire? That’s… you’re willing to give up your life because you wanted to be promoted?”

 

“Yeah,” Cewydd said casually. “I mean, I’m kind of just letting my life lead me where I need to go right now. It’s taking me to pretty odd places, sure, but who am I to complain?’

 

“I killed your best friend.”

 

“She was a little bratty and loud and she didn’t listen to me. I mean, she’s a Galra soul and I think she deserved to live longer, but I’ll be fine.”

 

Traxen lifted his blaster and shot Cewydd in the head. That’s just… sure, Traxen was the person who killed her, but Cewydd’s way of thinking was way messed up. Traxen felt guilt over Una and the rest of the officer’s deaths, so he made his peace with the Divinity about following the path he has taken. They understood, but that didn’t make taking a soul any better.

 

Anyone who thought someone else deserved death, anyone who was glad someone innocent and kind and beautiful was dead just because they were a ‘little bratty’- Traxen didn’t know what to think. That kind of thinking was messed up, and Traxen was shaken.

  
Whoever said ‘after the first death, the rest are easy’ was a liar. 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really, really sorry
> 
> Good thing is there's only one chapter left


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Trigger warning for misgendering and implied suicide.)

“Wake up.”

 

“Wake up.” Someone gently patted his cheek.

 

“Oh, for- wake the fuck up!” The same someone slapped his cheek, and Keith woke. His body went the way the slap led him, and without his arms to stop him, Keith crashed into the floor from the arm-less chair he was sitting in.

 

Lance checked Keith’s eyes, then nodded at the rest of the group behind him. “He’s up.”

 

Shiro, Allura, and Coran stood by Crown-Ruler Asmii with their arms crossed. Hunk and Pidge were closer, but their glares no less intense- well, now that he thought about it, everyone was glaring at him. The Crown-Ruler, the guards behind him-

 

“Eyes up here,” Lance said. “We’ve got a few questions, and then we’ll execute you, got it?”

 

Execute?

 

“No _way,”_ Keith spit out. “Are you serious? She’s brainwashing you- all of you.”

 

Asmii chuckled softly. “He’s quite the spitfire, isn’t he? I don’t think spitfires would be very useful on my team.”

 

Everyone turned to look at Asmii in admiration when she spoke. It was unsettling to see faces twisted in hate turn to love so quickly.

 

“Girls, I believe you should have the honor to dispose of our dear little Keith,” Asmii continued.

 

Allura smiled and bowed for Asmii. “As you wish.”

 

Pidge stood there, and Asmii turned a gentle frown on them. Keith’s breath caught in his throat. “My dear Pidge? Don’t you wish to please me?”

 

Pidge blinked, then put their hand on their chest and said, “Me?”

 

“Yes, you,” Asmii said, her patience seeming to wear thin. The Lwians ears pricked up in attention at the tension in the room, and if the humans had canine ears, they would be pricked up too. “You are a girl, are you not?”

 

Pidge stood there, and Keith could feel the- the spell? The brainwashing?- almost roll off them. “I’m not a girl.”

 

Asmii looked taken aback. “A man, then?”

 

“No,” Pidge growled. “I’m a _they._ And I’m not going to murder my teammate for a furry who brainwashed me into thinking one of my best friends was going to hurt me.”

 

The rest of Team Voltron stood there, in vague shock. “Did you just… misgender Pidge?” Shiro asked. Figures, they’re his favorite.

 

Asmii scrambled for something to say. “I’m- I didn’t-”

 

“Yeah,” Keith said from where he was on the floor. Based on the other’s reactions, they forgot he was still alive and kicking. “What kind of monster would misgender someone? That’s the cruelest thing you can do, back where we came from.”

 

It wasn’t, really, but whatever Asmii put in the food must have made everyone else susceptible to an outsider’s influence. Maybe Keith wasn’t affected because he barely ate anything. The paladins slowly came out of Amsii’s influence and went under Keith’s, which wasn’t what he really wanted, but he’d take it.

 

Amsii was floundering. “I would never- if I had known-”

 

“Shut up,” Pidge said. “Sure, sure. It was a little mistake and you’ll never do it again, okay, but- Keith’s right- you brainwashed us. You actually brainwashed us.” Pidge sounded incredulous. “We save you from the Galra empire, we protect your right to stay free, and you _brainwash_ us?”

 

“It was the only way to join your team,” Asmii said desperately. “We’re warlike, we don’t really do alliances or treaties or we’ll take over our allies- look, having me on your team would be beneficial. I’m a good warrior. I can help you, I can help you fight the Galra.”

 

“You brainwashed us,” Lance said. “That’s a pretty big no-no, Asmii.”

 

“Yeah, I wouldn’t really want someone who has no qualms with controlling their teammates against their will on a team with me, thanks,” Hunk said.

 

“Well, I think we should leave,” Allura said. “You’re not going to stop us, are you?”

 

Asmii sat on her throne, speechless.

 

“Great,” Allura said. “Alright, let’s move out-”

 

“Wait,” Lance said. “I want a spear. They look cool.”

 

“What would you do with a spear?” Hunk asked.

 

“I don’t know. Own it?”

 

Keith coughed subtly. “Do you mind helping me off of the rough stone floor? I can’t use my hands at all.”

 

“Oh, sorry,” Shiro said while Lance grabbed the spear from Asmii in the background. Asmii did not protest. Shiro helped Keith up from the floor and untied Keith’s wrists.

 

“Thanks,” Keith said. He rubbed his wrists because that’s what they did in the movies, and life kind of felt like a movie right then.

 

“No problem,” Shiro said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m really sorry about attacking you and knocking you out, actually.”

 

“You were brainwashed,” Keith said bluntly. “Not your fault.”

 

“Okay, now that Lance has what he wants, let’s get out of here,” Allura the General said. She made a gesture where she circled with her pointer finger then pointed to the door.

 

***

 

Traxen shot Sarge Usthanes and had so many qualms about it. He quickly grabbed the handles before the alarms went off, trying to ignore the corpse in the way. One handle would be sufficient, right? Yeah, he remembered that from flight class. He was being trained to become a fighter pilot before he was promoted.

 

Traxen pushed the Sarge’s body out of the chair and took a seat himself, grateful there wasn’t any blood on the seat.

 

He guided the _Nicetius_ through the asteroid field, then turned right around and went back through. He needed to be on the opposite side of the galaxy by yesterday.

 

Piloting took Traxen’s mind off of his wild and conflicting thoughts. The actions of flipping switches, checking balance, pressing the pedals and making sure he went where he needed to go took over all of his mind so that nothing else could edge in.

 

Before he knew it, Traxen was back at where he left Commander Ghoar’s ship. When he checked the time, though, almost a whole day had gone by. Traxen sighed and flipped the switch for autopilot, to follow Ghoar’s ship into deep space.

 

He tried to grab a couple hours of sleep. It was hard, since Sarge Usthanes was on the floor behind him. He had stopped dripping blood a while ago.

 

Traxen couldn’t stop thinking about Una, and her face right before she fell. He’d never know what she was going to say. It- that shouldn’t affect like him like it did, but Traxen thought about her smile and now it was shot to hell.

 

Traxen rubbed a sore spot on his forehead and muttered a charm to the Divinity. He couldn’t even pay their bodies the proper respect. Maybe if he burned the _Nicetius,_ but that would make for a poor funeral pyre.

 

Traxen’s eyes slipped closed, and he dreamed of blasters and torture.

 

***

 

Traxen woke to an alarm. He was still in the pilot’s chair, but the _Nicetius_ wasn’t moving. Traxen scrambled to find what was beeping and looked outside- he was right on top of a planet, and the legendary Castle of Lions was about to take off.

 

“Wait!” Traxen shouted, as if they could hear him. The Castle was home to Voltron, Traxen knew that- his mother had told him stories of the Defenders of the Universe back on Aegina. He knew what he was talking about.

 

Traxen scrambled to hail the Castle. He reached for the microphone and switched it on, sending a message through every comm channel he could. There was an option to send the message through _every_ channel, so Traxen did that.

 

“Um, um-” what could he call himself? He had to have a call signal- “Red Two calling Castle of Lions. Come in, please, Castle of Lions.”

 

***

 

Everyone flinched at the sudden transmission over the air.

 

“What kind of Star Wars reference,” Lance muttered.

 

“Castle of Lions to Red Two,” Allura said. This whole thing was strange, but she was a princess and a diplomat and as long as the messenger wasn’t Galra, she was willing to listen.

 

“Red Two speaking. Thank you for listening to me.” The stranger sounded tired and desperate. “I have an important file that you need to see. Champion, he- the other Earthlings. Where they are, what’s happened to them- It’s not pretty but you need to see it.”

 

Pidge and Shiro both gasped.

 

“Send it over,” Allura said. Her heart beat faster in her chest. “You can do that, right?”

 

“I- yeah,” the stranger said. “I just needed to be closer. Um, hold on, I-” Sounds of things crashing and breaking were heard over the air, but Allura’s computer beeped. She glanced down and saw a little graphic of a bar being filled.

 

“Transmission being received,” she said. “Keep going, keep going, almost there- transmission received. Thank you.”

 

***

 

“Oh, thank Divinity,” Traxen breathed. He could finally rest, after this mad adventure- “Thank god.”

 

“Divinity, did you say?” the Castle said. “I don’t- the Divinity, They- do you believe in the Divinity?”

 

Traxen took a deep breath, and snatched his head up- he hadn’t realized how much of his guard he had let down. “I thought I was the only one,” he said. “It’s a dead religion- my planet, we were the last ones to practice it, but then the Galra empire destroyed it- I didn’t think-”

 

The Castle laughed. “Divinity, I don’t believe it- we have to- I have to see you, we have to talk about this! We could bring Them back, we could make Them known again!”

 

Traxen had the breath knocked out of him. “I can’t.”

 

The Castle didn’t speak for a moment. “What?”

 

“I can’t,” Traxen repeated. “Look, please- I sacrificed too much for this mission. It will help you, I know it will, but my journey is finished.”

 

“No,” the Castle whispered.

 

“Yes,” Traxen said. “I’m sorry. But I’ve lost sight of my future after this- everything is like seen on a blank wall with no way to tell how near or far anything is.”

 

“Like me,” the Red Paladin said. “You lost your depth perception.”

 

“Yeah,” Traxen said. “I’ve lost my depth perception, and I’m about to hit that wall running. I mean, I’ll be with my family again, with Una and Cewydd and the Divinity. All of us together. God, I can't wait," Traxen breathed. 

 

“I’m sorry for shooting your eye, Red Paladin. I’m glad to know you’re still alive- the rest of the Galra Empire thinks you’re dead.” Traxen didn’t know why he was saying all of this- he was telling the Castle he was Galra and he had almost killed one of their own. They’d never trust what he sent, but he kept babbling anyway.

 

“I- I’ve got nothing else to lose,” Traxen said. “You can use your presumed death to your advantage- they won’t know you’re coming. I know the Green Paladin can reverse engineer some invisibility or something so do that for you." He sighed. “Please, there’s nothing bad in the file. I swear on the Divinity themselves. This is Red Two, signing out.”

 

“Wait-” the Castle said, but Traxen switched off the comms before they could say anything else. He stared ahead into the blackness of space, blood rushing through his head.

 

Then he shook it off and headed for the nearest inhospitable planet.

 

***

 

Allura stared at her comms unit, and she didn’t turn around when Keith or anyone else came up to the command room.

 

“We all heard,” Shiro said. “I think we should open the file. It’s a risk we have to take.”

 

“I can check for malware first,” Pidge offered. “Red Two was Galra, we know that, but I don’t think they really believed in Zarkon anymore. They had that sound in their voice. Disillusionment.”

 

“Yeah,” Allura said. “Go for it, Pidge. The transmission is in the call log, you have it on your own hand-held.”

 

The rest of the paladins filed out, not expecting a mission report, but Keith lingered by the doorway and Shiro went to talk to Allura.

 

Keith was too far away to hear what they were saying, but he saw Shiro place a hand on Allura’s back and Allura melt into his side, shaking but not quite crying. 

 

He didn’t know what to think. That stranger just came into their lives all of a sudden and left- Keith himself was used to temporary relationships, but this ex-Galra gave them such a gift and now they were gone forever.

 

Would it always be like that? The random kindness of strangers giving them critical information or helping them when they needed it most? Would it always feel like a dream encounter, like a Ghibli movie shown on an old VHS tape?

 

Keith had been watching too many Altean aesthetic meditating videos. He couldn’t stop- they were pretty and soothing. It put him in a strange mindset after watching them, though.

 

Allura and Shiro brought up the file on the big screen after Pidge gave the okay. It was a PowerPoint Presentation, and Keith thought it should be set on fire right then and there.

 

The first couple slides were unimportant, but the third or fourth or fifth one had a picture of Matt Holt with tubes sticking out of his body. The rest of the crew were called into the command room, and together, they flipped through the rest of the presentation.

 

It was terrible, and it hurt Keith to see humans experimented on like lab rats. But he had to soldier through.

 

Pidge watched it with the most determined expression on their face that Keith had ever seen. Shiro was the same, like he wanted to witness what cruelties had been done to him and his original crew. Lance and Hunk couldn’t help but look away.

 

Keith touched his eyepatch. The pictures on the slide show must have been worse than what Keith’s eye looked like when he went into the pod, but everyone was reacting a little differently from what he heard. They were tougher, more hardened.

 

It wasn’t fair. They were just kids, they couldn’t fight this war- Pidge was only fifteen. Lance and Hunk belonged back on Earth, living and living there. Shiro had already gone through too much trauma- now they all fight in a war when they should have explored the universe in peace, under a reign of prosperity and freedom, not this imitation government Zarkon had set up. Not under this madman’s delusion of grandeur and conquest. The universe owed that much to them.

 

Keith shook it off and watched the presentation.

 

***

 

Traxen hovered above a planet that didn’t have a name.

 

The _Nicetius_ was silent, save for the engine’s hum. Traxen almost expected Una to clap a hand on his shoulder and ask him why he was so quiet.

 

She’d never talk to him, or anyone else, ever again. Not in this life. Traxen scrubbed a hand over his face and breathed out heavily.

 

There was a lot of atmosphere on the unnamed planet. It was bigger, too, with a lot of gravity. If something fell from high up, there was no way it could survive- Traxen imagined a ball of fire, a mushroom cloud with no one to see it.

 

Traxen brought the _Nicetius_ down right beneath the surface of the atmosphere, mindful of the flames licking the outside. The ship was insulated enough to keep Traxen cool.

 

The Galra installed a kill switch on every ship they built in the case of enemy boarding. In theory, the pilot could flip the switch and cause every function of the ship to turn off instantly. This included engines, oxygen reserves, and lights.

 

For Traxen, it would serve as a funeral pyre, though not the one he wanted. He set the ship on autopilot and hovering and went to speak a blessing on every corpse.

 

Sarge Usthanes was first, since he was the closest. Traxen closed Usthanes’ eyes and said, “Divinity guides you to peace in your next life and the comfort of home with you always.” It was informal and impersonal and perfect for the Sarge.

 

He walked back to the rec room, careless of the blood he was stepping in. He muttered the same phrase over every body, even Cewydd, feeling regret and remorse for having to take so many lives.

 

He saved Una for last, and said over her, “Divinity loves and protects you, They guide your soul into the warm embrace of Their arms, They give you peace and They give you hope for a future beyond pain and misery and a future of true happiness and love. Divinity, bless this soul, give her the love You give the universe, let her be free in Your arms and blessed in Your presence.”

 

He stood there for a while, cradling Una’s head. He didn’t want to let go of the future they could have had together in this world, but he had to so that they could have a future in the next. He hoped she’d forgive him.

 

Traxen went back to the cockpit the moment he could pull himself away from Una. He closed his eyes and murmured a blessing for himself.

 

“Divinity, watch over me and guide me through the choice I am about to make. My life is in Your hands. I am comforted by Your embrace. I do this for the good of the universe, for the peaceful future others will bring with my paltry help. I ask You to hold me in Your embrace, to let me be not afraid, and to take me when the time is right. Divinity, bless my soul, give me the love You show the universe, let me be free in Your arms and blessed in Your presence. Please.”

  
Traxen took the deepest breath in his life, the last breath he would, and flicked the kill switch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you didn't get attached to any of my OCs. I'm really sorry. I'm really, really, really sorry.
> 
> Thank you so much for going on this amazing story with me! I really enjoyed writing it, so much, and there's a lot of amazing aspects of being a writer. I love being able to share my work with you, I really do. I also really love hearing from the people who take the time from their day to look at my work. A kudo is great to see on my work, and I really get happy when I see people subscribing to my work. But it's really, really amazing to see a bookmark on my work- it tells other people, 'Hey, look at this work! Read it!' 
> 
> The absolute best thing an author can get is a comment about their work. I know it's difficult to reach out to someone and tell them about what you think, to give criticism, but it's really helpful and it's so nice to see people reach out and talk to me about my characters and my work. 
> 
> I really enjoy writing. As you can see, I've written six works (wow!) for the Voltron fandom. (If you can, go and read them!) Out of all of those works, I've gotten a maximum of five comments- I treasure every single one of them (even though I don't reply- bad Mac! Sorry about that) and I'd love to get more. 
> 
> You've heard it before- authors love, love, love feedback. This author would love a bookmark or a comment if you have the time! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this work! I spent a lot of time on it, and I loved every second of it. I hope you enjoyed it as well and that I didn't make your heart hurt too much. Thank you so, so, so much!

**Author's Note:**

> This is it! The best and the worst thing I've ever written!
> 
> Please leave kudos and comments! This whole thing is completed and I can't wait to post it all!
> 
> Yell at me on Tumblr at http://rage-crystals.tumblr.com/ !


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